Henry Allingham, the world's oldest man and oldest World War I veteran, who put his longevity down to "cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women", died yesterday at the age of 113.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Gordon Brown led the tributes to the veteran, who symbolised the stoicism of the last generation of servicemen who saw the horrors of the Great War.

Allingham spoke of his experiences in the 1914-1918 conflict in order to remember fallen comrades shorn of the chance to live as long has he did and hoped there would be "no more wars".

In moving scenes last November, the wheelchair-bound Allingham tried for minutes to lay his wreath himself as he and two of Britain's three other surviving World War I veterans led the country in marking the 90th anniversary of the armistice.

Allingham spent his 113th birthday on June 6 at a party hosted by the Royal Navy aboard the frigate HMS President.

He become the world's oldest man on June 17, Guinness World Records confirmed, when the previous holder, Tomoji Tanabe of Japan, died aged 113.

Events he lived through included the death of queen Victoria in 1901, the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, the invention of television by John Logie Baird in the 1920s and the Wall Street crash of 1929.

Allingham had five grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, 14 great-great grandchildren and one great-great-great grandchild.